Archive for the ‘Richard Petty’ tag

You may remember how a couple of years ago, in Hemmings Muscle Machines, we paid a visit to Richard Petty’s historic compound in Level Cross, just as Hurricane Sandy was hitting the North Carolina coast. This is the home turf of the original Petty Enterprises, where good things in our world were starting to take place. As Petty’s Garage, it proclaimed the family’s foray into building and restoring muscle cars inside the team’s original race shops, located just off U.S. 220.

The muscle work is still going on, which will be marked next month by the fourth annual Petty’s Garage Car Show, set for October 10-11 at Level Cross and presented by the Automotive Lift Institute. The fete starts off with an invitation-only cookout at the Petty homestead before King Richard himself signs autographs during the car show on the 11th. The show’s open to all cars that post a $35 entry fee; the first 100 owners to register by the end of this month get a ticket for two to the cookout. Besides restoring muscle cars, Petty’s Garage specializes in modifying modern Mopars, led by the Dodge Challenger. To register or learn more, visit PGCarShow@eventzilla.net, and you can hook up with Petty’s Garage at www.facebook.com/PettysGarage. The Level Cross compound, incidentally, is registered as a North Carolina historic site, and will eventually become home to the Richard Petty Museum, now in nearby Randleman.

Though currently enshrined in the Richard Petty Museum, the Belvedere that King Richard drove to earn that nickname and set records on his way to his second championship in 1967 will once again pound pavement – with Petty at the wheel, no less – when it makes its way over to England for a run up Goodwood Hill at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

In reality, Richard Petty didn’t drive a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere during the season that saw him win 27 of 48 races – more than 56 percent of the Grand National races he entered. Instead, Petty campaigned his 1966 Belvedere, updated to look like the 1967 model, and in two seasons the Race Hemi-powered car produced a grand total of 36 victories with Petty behind the wheel.

When the car was loaned to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for a two-year appearance in 2008, Petty recalled that, “The Plymouth Belvedere was a special car. Back then we usually found a car that was good on short tracks or speedways or dirt tracks, but not many that were good everywhere. That Plymouth was fast no matter where we ran.” Chances are good it will prove to be fast up the narrow road that traverses Lord March’s estate, too, where the car is sure to be a hit with those unaccustomed to the glory days of NASCAR racing.

Fellow American Al Unser will also be on hand for a run up the hill in his 1978 Penske Lola-Cosworth, the car that delivered Unser’s third (of four) Indianapolis 500 wins. Joining Petty and Unser will be an all-star team of international drivers on hand for exhibition runs, including Emerson Fittipaldi, John Surtees, Sebastian Loeb, Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro, Derek Bell, Henri Pescarolo and Mark Webber.

In the world of motorsports marketing, few names are as recognizable as Andy Granatelli, the ingenious pitchman and racing promoter who funded numerous Indianapolis 500 efforts before capturing victory with Mario Andretti in the 1969 race. Also known as the driving force behind Richard Petty’s long-term STP sponsorship, Granatelli died this past Sunday at age 90 of congestive heart failure in Santa Barbara, California.

Born in March 1923 in Dallas, Texas, Granatelli was raised in Chicago, Illinois, by his widower father. He quit school at age 14 and, along with his brothers, learned to repair automobiles. By age 20, he was an investor in his brothers’ service station, and soon began selling auto parts as a sideline business. Following World War II, Granatelli began promoting automotive races that combined stunts with competition, packing the stands with spectators eager to see a blend of racing and orchestrated carnage. When Andy and his brothers acquired a Navy airfield in Halfday, Illinois, then converted it to a drag strip, the opening day crowd reached 26,000, more than four times the number expected.

His Indianapolis 500 ambitions began in 1946, when the Granatelli brothers fielded an 11-year-old race car driven by Danny Kladis. Though Kladis started from the 33rd position, last on the grid, he’d finish in 21st position after completing just 46 of 200 laps. In 1948, Granatelli himself tried his hand at driving, but a qualifying crash proved his talents were best used in promoting races and fielding race teams, not in driving cars.

Granatelli’s business savvy was the stuff of legend. Not only did he turn a struggling company named Chemical Compounds (with a single product, known as Scientifically Treated Petroleum, or STP) into a household name (growing sales fifty-fold, to $100 million annually), but he also revived struggling supercharger manufacturer Paxton, sold to automaker Studebaker in 1961. In 1976, Granatelli purchased Tuneup Masters for $300,000; a decade later, he sold the now-profitable low-cost specialty service provider to Cardis for the reported sum of $53 million.

Granatelli’s rise to prominence at the Indy 500 really began in 1961, when he purchased the rights to use the dual overhead camshaft, supercharged Novi V-8 engine at the Brickyard. Fans loved the engine’s distinctive howl, but harnessing its excessive power proved troublesome for drivers Jim Hurtubise, Art Malone and Bobby Unser. Reliability issues also impacted the Novi’s performance, and Granatelli abandoned the engine after the 1966 running (where a crash in qualifying excluded it from the field).

His next innovation at Indianapolis came in 1967, when Granatelli fielded a turbine-powered race car driven by Parnelli Jones. Jones qualified sixth on the grid, but quickly passed the rest of the field on the opening lap. Rain red-flagged the race, which resumed the following day with Jones leading in the STP-liveried turbine car. With just four laps remaining in the race, and a full lap ahead of second place A.J. Foyt, Jones coasted to the inside of the track down the back straight, barely managing to limp the car home to the pits. A certain victory had been spoiled by a transmission bearing, which Granatelli later referred to as a “$6.00 part.”

Granatelli would also field turbine cars for the 1968 running of the race, although rule changes had made turbine cars far less competitive. Now using a more sophisticated (and more aerodynamic) Lotus 56 chassis, the STP team once again appeared to be in position to win the race, but a restart on lap 191 left Granatelli driver and race leader Joe Leonard with a snapped fuel shaft, a problem that also dropped Leonard’s teammate Art Pollard from the race. With turbine power outlawed for 1969, Granatelli managed his first Indy 500 victory in a conventional (and year-old) race car, driven by Mario Andretti. Gordon Johncock would deliver a second victory for the Granatelli team in 1973; despite efforts that lasted until 1991, the victory would be the final one for “Mister 500.”

Aside from the two victories, Granatelli’s Indianapolis 500 highlights include the infamous “STP pajama” team uniforms, which likely brought STP more exposure than even a win could have, as well as his in-the-moment kiss of Mario Andretti, recognized as the first winner to be kissed by a team owner before the trophy girl. Granatelli’s biggest victory in all of motorsports, however, was likely his STP sponsorship deal with stock car legend Richard Petty, a contract that was nearly shot down by Petty’s refusal to switch from a “Petty Blue” to an “STP Red” livery. In the end, both parties agreed to a compromise, and the net result was one of the most familiar paint schemes (and one of the longest lasting sponsorships) in NASCAR history.

Though today’s Indianapolis rules and contract restrictions allow for none of the flamboyance and innovation exhibited by Granatelli over his lengthy presence at the Brickyard, his genius and his energy won’t soon be forgotten.

In 1965, Richard Petty found himself on the sidelines of NASCAR’s Grand National series, a victim of the sanctioning body’s (temporary) ban on Chrysler’s Hemi V-8 engines. Eager to explore other racing options, Petty struck up a conversation with race car builder Bob McKee, who accepted a project to build The King a Can-Am car, powered by a Hemi V-8. By the time said car was completed, the NASCAR Hemi ban had been lifted and Petty was once again at the top of his stock car game; still, the 1965 McKee Mk. V Sports Racer that will cross the stage during Russo and Steele’s Scottsdale auction raises the question, “What if things had worked out differently that year?”

When completed, the Hemi-powered McKee boasted about 600 horsepower, in a package that weighed in at just over 1,600 pounds dry and sat on a 96-inch wheelbase. Such a race car does not forgive many mistakes, so Chrysler’s director of racing, Ronnie Householder, connected fighter-pilot-turned-roadracer Bob Montana with McKee. The fact that Montana also owned a successful and performance-oriented Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in Phoenix, Arizona (which regularly played host to the Ramchargers drag racing team), probably didn’t hurt either.

Montana purchased the car from McKee in late 1965 and managed to quickly put up two SCCA class wins before the season ended. In 1966, he reportedly qualified fifth on the grid for the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside, a race that also included star drivers such as Mario Andretti, Pedro Rodriguez, Phil Hill and A.J. Foyt. The car saw action in the Can-Am series as well, although its razor’s-edge combination of short wheelbase, somewhat flexible tube frame chassis and massive horsepower made it a handful to drive with anything resembling consistency. By the end of the 1967 season, the rise of monocoque-chassis race cars from constructors like McLaren and Lola made the McKee obsolete in the Can-Am series, and Montana reportedly retired the car from Can-Am competition in 1968. It was still competitive in the SCCA, however, and Montana continued to race the Mk. V in SCCA competition until 1969.

Leading Bruce McLaren at Mosport, 1966.

In 1971, Montana, his wife, and two sons were killed in a plane crash, and the McKee became the property of his son-in-law, who’d also inherited Montana’s dealership, Town & Country Chrysler Plymouth. Though not much is known about the car in these years, the original Hemi V-8 was pulled out and replaced with a 440-cu.in. V-8 to make the car a bit more docile for street use. There’s no evidence the car was raced during these years, and in the early 1980s the McKee was sold to Phoenix attorney John Rasmussen and restoration specialist John James.

The ensuing rebirth took a little more than two decades to complete, with Rasmussen researching the car and James (working with McKee) doing much of the restorative work. Much care was taken to duplicate the car’s original Hemi V-8 as closely as possible, and the 426-cu.in. V-8 wears the period-correct A-990 single-plug cylinder heads. The magnesium cross-ram intake manifold is an original Mopar part, and it’s topped with a pair of Holley 3116 four-barrel carburetors; internals include a factory-original race camshaft, forged connecting rods, and a forged crankshaft.

The car’s restoration was completed in 2004, and early appearances included the Mopar Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, and the Phoenix Historic Grand Prix in Phoenix, Arizona. Since then, the car has been invited to participate in the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, and has been displayed at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Russo and Steele’s Scottsdale auction represents the first time the car has been offered for sale at auction.

Though Montana enjoyed some racing success with the Hemi-powered McKee Mk. V, he certainly lacked the resources of Richard Petty and Petty Enterprises. Had The King not returned to NASCAR in 1965, one can’t help but wonder what he may have accomplished behind the wheel of the McKee Mk. V, or how his participation may have helped attract even more interest to the Can-Am series and American sports car racing.

Russo and Steele expects the McKee Mk. V to sell for between $275,000 and $375,000 when it crosses the stage. The Russo and Steele Scottsdale auction will take place January 15-19. For more information, visit RussoAndSteele.com.

Stock car racing has been called “America’s favorite motorsport,” and while it may be the subject of some debate, the roots of the sport are as American as baseball, apple pie and the illegal home-distilled alcohol known as moonshine. A new exhibit at the LeMay Museum, entitled “Legends of Motorsports: The NASCAR Story,” looks to trace the evolution of stock car racing in North America from its run-from-the-law-with-a-trunk-full-of-corn-whiskey origins to its high-banked 200 MPH superspeedways.

Covering that much material and history in a single exhibit is a daunting task, but the LeMay exhibit will use cars to help illustrate much of the tale. Vehicles slated for the display include a 1936 Ford Model 68 Roadster, modified to carry moonshine yet still sufficiently fast to outrun law enforcement; a 1956 Ford Curtis Turner replica, depicting the open-top cars once campaigned in NASCAR’s convertible classes; the 1979 Oldsmobile that Richard Petty used for his sixth Daytona 500 win (the race that debuted in-car cameras and brought NASCAR racing into American living rooms); one of Dale Earnhardt Senior’s number three Chevrolet Monte Carlos; and even a Toyota Camry generation six “Car of Tomorrow” Sprint Cup car from Michael Waltrip Racing.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

The exhibit will honor the contribution of Bill France Sr., an early promoter of racing in Daytona Beach, Florida, and one of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s founding members. Acting as NASCAR’s first president, it was France who helped to map out the sport’s rules and regulations, ensuring that stock car racing would have a defined path into the future. France did much to legitimize the sport as well, de-emphasizing its outlaw roots and making heroes out of drivers once (potentially) viewed in a different light by law enforcement.

In any sport, its athletes are the biggest draw, and NASCAR has had more than its share of colorful drivers over the years. Though hardly a comprehensive list, the exhibit will highlight the careers of drivers like Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Dale Earnhardt Sr., to name just a few. Though Richard Petty became known simply as “The King” for his uncanny ability to win races (collecting seven championships in the process), his father, Lee Petty, was perhaps NASCAR’s very first superstar, and the Petty family the sport’s very first dynasty. This, too, is narrated in the LeMay exhibit.

Neil Bonnett’s 1981 Thunderbird.

As with other forms of motorsports, stock car racing has changed with the times. As speeds have increased, cars have evolved from modified “stock” cars, as found on a dealer’s lot, to purpose-built race cars utilizing a tube-frame chassis, non-production V-8 engines and stylized bodies that only loosely resemble their production namesakes. “Legends of Motorsports: The NASCAR Story” traces this evolution as well, including the latest version of the sport’s “Car of Tomorrow,” the sixth-generation model introduced for the 2013 Sprint Cup season. The display will also illustrate that NASCAR is far more than just a regional series with a segment on NASCAR Northwest, highlighting drivers such as Herschel McGriff (who also ran a modified NASCAR Dodge Charger in the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans), Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle.

While it isn’t likely that the new exhibit will draw many new fans into the NASCAR ranks, its ambitious scope will surely prove fascinating to both the NASCAR faithful and to those with a passion for the history of racing in America. “Legends of Motorsports: The NASCAR Story” opens to the public on Sunday, June 2. For more information, visit LeMayMuseum.org.

When it comes to National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) history, no driver has ever won more races, more Daytona 500s or more series titles than Richard Lee Petty. Born in 1937 in Level Cross, North Carolina, driving for a living was more or less preordained; his father, truck driver and racer Lee Petty, took victory in the very first Daytona 500 and later became a three-time NASCAR series champion.

Richard Petty’s father was fine with the idea of his eldest son working as part of the pit crew from an early age, but he strictly forbade Richard from racing until his 21st birthday. Sixteen days after reaching that milestone in 1958, Richard Petty climbed behind the wheel of a race car in competition for the very first time. The car was a tired 1957 Oldsmobile convertible, and the race was a 200-lap event run on a half-mile dirt track in Columbia, South Carolina. In his debut outing, Petty qualified 15th and finished the race in sixth place.

Less than a week later, Petty found himself in his first Cup Series race, at a paved oval in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Petty’s father took the win, but Richard completed just 55 laps before being taken out in an accident; given the race’s limited field, he was still credited with a 17th place finish. No professional series in the world today would allow a rookie driver to compete with just a single race’s worth of experience, but times were different then and a familiar family name overcame many obstacles.

The rest of Petty’s 1958 season, in which he ran a total of 12 events (three in the NASCAR Convertible Series and nine in the NASCAR Cup Series), produced similar results. Though he failed to win any races that year, Petty did manage two top-five and three top-10 finishes in Convertible competition, while delivering just one top-10 in the Cup Series. His rookie year earnings totaled just $1,410, but things would soon look up for the young driver.

In 1959, Petty ran 12 of 15 Convertible races, putting up one win, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes, ending the season fourth in points. His performance in the Cup Series was equally impressive; running just 21 of 44 possible events, Petty delivered six top-five finishes and nine top-10 finishes, ending the season seventh in points and earning “Rookie of the Year” honors in the process.

In 1960, Petty’s attention shifted to the Cup Series exclusively, and his string of wins began. Putting up three wins, 16 top-five finishes, 30 top-10 finishes, two pole positions and 447 laps led, Petty had progressed from an average driver to the driver to beat in just his first full season of racing. Though he failed to take the Cup Series championship in 1960 (thanks to a disqualification for an illegal pit entry at the World 600), he managed a respectable second place in the points.

Generally speaking, Petty’s stock continued to climb through the 1960s, with many biographers calling 1963 Petty’s “breakout year.” He scored a total of 14 wins that season, demonstrating his ability to race on short ovals and road courses alike, although the Petty Enterprises Plymouths were at a disadvantage on the superspeedways. That would change in 1964, with the introduction of the 426-cu.in. Hemi V-8 engine.

At the 1964 Daytona 500, the Hemi-equipped Petty Plymouths ran 20 MPH faster in qualifying than they had the year before. The advantage of the new engine was immediately obvious, and Hemi-powered Plymouths crossed the line in first, second and third positions at Daytona. Despite the fact that the 1964 schedule included some 62 races, Petty ran in all but one, and wrapped up the Cup Series championship at the World 600 in late May. By the time the 1964 season ended, Petty had amassed some 5,000 points more than the second-place finisher.

That kind of dominance doesn’t go unnoticed, and rival teams were quick to point out that the Hemi V-8 was not available in Chrysler showrooms. Yielding to pressure, NASCAR banned the Chrysler Hemi V-8 in the 1965 season, prompting both Chrysler and Petty Enterprises to withdraw from NASCAR racing. The move didn’t last long, as fans and track owners alike petitioned NASCAR to let Petty, and the Hemi V-8 back into the sport. Running just 14 Cup Series races in 1965, Petty still managed to put up four wins, 10 top-five finishes and seven pole positions.

The year was marked by tragedy for Petty as well. During his hiatus from stock car racing, Petty took up drag racing a Plymouth Barracuda named “Outlawed;” though he won the bulk of the races entered, a crash at a Georgia dragstrip killed a six-year-old boy and injured seven other spectators.

In 1966, Petty became the first driver to win the Daytona 500 twice, and in 1967 went on to win 27 of the season’s 48 races. Ten of those wins came back to back, and Petty easily won his second NASCAR championship. In the process, he picked up a nickname that would stay with him for the rest of his driving career: King Richard.

Though Petty is most closely associated with Chrysler products, he switched to running a Ford Torino for the 1969 season when Chrysler refused to allow Petty Enterprises to run the aerodynamically superior Dodge Daytona. The introduction of the Plymouth Superbird lured Petty back to Plymouth in 1970, though he’d manage to finish just fourth in the points that season.

For the 1971 season, Petty Enterprises switched to campaigning the Plymouth Road Runner, and Petty himself racked up his third Daytona 500 win and his fourth Cup Series championship, surpassing $1 million in career earnings in the process. Bad news came at the end of the season, however, as Chrysler announced it was ending direct funding of motorsports, leaving Petty Enterprises scrambling to find new sources of funding.

Andy Granatelli, president of lubricant supplier STP, had been looking for a way into the NASCAR series, which had an exclusive arrangement with Pure Oil. A deal with Petty Enterprises seemed like a great fit for all parties involved, but the devil is in the details; when Granatelli informed Petty that sponsorship would require a new Day-Glo Red livery, instead of the traditional Petty Blue, the story goes that Petty simply walked away from the table, turning his back on $250,000 worth of sponsorship money. The following morning, a compromise was struck: Petty Enterprises cars would now carry a livery that blended Petty Blue with STP’s Day-Glo Red, and for fans who came of age in the 1970s, this is the color scheme that immediately comes to mind when the name Richard Petty is mentioned.

During the 1970s, Petty would take a total of five Cup Series championships, winning a total of 89 races throughout the decade. Not all years were memorable, however, as 1978 saw Petty’s first winless season since his rookie debut in 1959. Soon, his winless stretch would grow to 45 races, but a 1979 Daytona Victory (Petty’s sixth Daytona win) seemed to end his bad luck streak. Perhaps the race was momentum-building, as Petty ended the decade with his seventh (and final) Cup Championship. That season also saw the debut of Richard Petty’s son, Kyle, in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

Though Petty still won races in the 1980s (including his seventh and final Daytona 500 win, in 1981), he no longer dominated the sport he had once defined. Even switching cars, from a Dodge Mirada to a Buick Regal to a Pontiac Grand Prix, failed to produce the consistent results Petty was used to. Adding to the distraction, a disagreement between Petty and Petty Enterprises saw him jump ship in the 1984 season, when he drove for Mike Curb but posted only two wins.

By the dawn of the 1990s, Petty knew his driving career had all but come to a close. Following winless seasons in 1990 and 1991, Petty announced that he’d retire at the end of the 1992 season. Though he qualified for every race in 1992, he scored no top-10 finishes and grabbed no starts from the pole. As the season was as much about recognizing his loyal fans as it was about racing, these details were all but moot.

Though Petty would go on to drive the occasional pace lap or tire test, his primary role transitioned to that of team owner, followed by stints in broadcasting, voice-over work and promotional marketing. Though it’s been decades since Petty turned a wheel in anger, he remains one of NASCAR’s best recognized celebrities to this day.

Signing autographs in 2012.

While it’s nearly impossible to recap a career that spanned some five decades, Petty’s achievements speak for themselves. Though Dale Earnhardt Sr. matched Petty’s seven career NASCAR Cup championships, no other driver has tied Petty’s 200 career wins, 27 victories in a single season and seven Daytona 500 wins. Detractors will point out that the bulk of Petty’s wins came at a time when dominance of the sport was easier than it is today, but his fans won’t likely be swayed. When it comes to stock car racing, there is only one King.

The ultimate intermediate – that’s the ideal way to describe Ford’s fearsome 427 Fairlane! Flip open the June 2013 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines for the lowdown on this competition-pedigreed steed.

But wait! There’s more!

From a buyer’s guide on the stylish 1961 Chrysler 300G to a look inside the King’s Petty Enterprises compound, there’s something for everyone in this issue. We even take a brand-new Shelby GT500 supercar for a test – not on the track, but around town, figuring out if you really could make this potent performer your primary driver. All this, plus the usual Muscle Machines roundup of modified mayhem, weekend warriors, technical tips and tricks, vintage racing, and more.

Muscle cars are meant to be used. Unfortunately, that often means that the specimens we find today have been abused – run hard and put up wet. Not so with this amazing 1969 Chevelle SS 396, which was put back on the road – and on the track – by its original owner, who also raced it back in the day.

Also in this issue, we go behind the scenes with the King himself, Richard Petty, as he talks us through photos from throughout his storied racing career. Then we give you the low-down on how to buy a 1979 Trans Am, screaming chicken and all, and check out another original-owner car: a 1968 Dodge Super Bee.

And keeping with the “use it!” theme, we take to the track for a different kind of competition – land-speed racing. It’s easier to get involved than you might think!

We would have been really embarrassed if we’d missed this milestone. In the maelstrom of non-stop motion that constitutes a NASCAR season, many people paused yesterday to wish the eternal King, Richard Petty, best wishes on his 75th birthday. It is impossible to overstate the enormous influence that Petty has exerted on top-level stock car racing, and that doesn’t even include his extended family. His life has truly snapped back and forth between triumph and heartbreak more than once.

A very abbreviated list: Petty made 1,184 Grand National and Winston Cup starts in a span of more than 30 years, beginning in 1958. He won seven NASCAR championships and seven Daytona 500s. His 200 wins in NASCAR’s top series is likely an unassailable mark, nearly double that of David Pearson, his closest challenger. So is his astounding run of 27 wins in 1967, 10 of them straight. His son, Kyle, won an ARCA race at Daytona in his very first start. But Petty saw his father, Lee, suffer massive injuries in the Daytona 500 that effectively ended his career. Petty’s grandson, Adam, NASCAR’s first and only fourth-generation driver, was only 19 when he was killed in 2000. Petty himself suffered excruciating pain from ulcers for years. His fans remember all of this, and treat him like a deity. They turned out en masse to the Richard Petty Museum at the original family compound in Randleman, North Carolina, to help him celebrate. We wish King Richard the best, as well. Thanks to Allison Green at Richard Petty Motorsports in Concord, North Carolina, for hooking us up with Cortni Hill from Pettys-Garage.com, the museum’s website, who got these party photos for us.

Mopar fans, feel free to elaborate – we couldn’t find any more information on a raffling of a Petty Blue Plymouth Road Runner in 1971 than what the seller of these two 1971 PlymouthRoad Runners was able to provide. According to the seller, Plymouth only built three petty Blue Road Runners that year, and these two for sale on Hemmings.com are No. 2 and No. 3, both 383 cars and both in need of restoration. They differ slightly in their specifications: The No. 2 car has black interior, an automatic transmission and a vinyl top, while the No. 3 car has blue interior, a manual transmission, and tank tread graphics.

It would make sense that Plymouth publicize their link to Petty in 1971. That was, after all, the year that Petty drove a Hemi-powered Road Runner in NASCAR, winning the Daytona 500 and 20 other races to take the Winston Championship and earning more than $1 million.